Photo credit to Lucas Noonan/ Bellator MMA
Said Sowma talks working with Andrei Arlovski ahead of Bellator 274
Said Sowma tests skills with Davion Franklin on February 19th at Bellator 274. This titanic tilt emanates from Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Connecticut.
This is a battle between ranked contenders as each vies to climb the heavyweight hierarchy as 2022 continues on. Sowma is presently ranked nine while Franklin is situated at number eight in the division, as of this writing.
Said Sowma has back-to-back wins inside the Bellator MMA cage. He now looks to extend his win streak to three in his first fight of the calendar year.
I spoke with Sowma at the pre-fight virtual media day. Excerpts from our interaction are below.
Said Sowma
Sowma’s submission grappling game and if that is going to be one of the bigger facets within this fight coming up for him
“It could honestly be, yes. I haven’t seen him on the ground. I know he wrestled. But I don’t know how long he’s been doing jiu-jitsu. I think he’s pretty new in the MMA world. Jiu-Jitsu experience, it comes a long way. I’ve been doing it for 10 years. So I think if it does go to the ground, I definitely have the advantage there.”
Getting in work with Marcelo Golm, his first-ever sparring partner, and the fighters he has been able to work with overall in this camp at ATT
“So that was actually my cousin. And the funny story about that is actually we started together 15 years ago. We’d always spar a lot. But for this camp, I sparred with Andrei Arlovski and “Pezao” Marcos Rogerio de Lima from the UFC. And Marcelo Golm as well. Yeah, a couple of times.”
What Sowma is able to learn from someone like Andrei Arlovski who debuted in the UFC in the year 2000
“Man, Andrei’s a pretty quiet guy. He doesn’t talk much. We just kind of spar and then have some laughs after about it. That’s really it.”
